Application Guide
How to Apply for Project Tailwind, Call for Ambitious AI Safety Initiatives
at Coefficient Giving
🏢 About Coefficient Giving
Coefficient Giving is a grantmaking and research nonprofit that funds high-impact work across multiple cause areas, and it is the largest funder of 80,000 Hours. Through Project Tailwind, it specifically supports founders building new organizations to solve critical gaps in AI safety. Working here means operating at the intersection of philanthropy, frontier AI risk, and ecosystem-building, with the ability to deploy significant capital toward neglected problems.
About This Role
This is not a standard employment role but a call for founders: Coefficient Giving provides pre-seed, seed, and scale funding plus typically 18–36 months of runway for ambitious AI safety initiatives. You would propose and launch a new organization addressing ecosystem gaps such as training fault injections, AI decision-making tools, alignment moonshots, or a frontier capabilities observatory. The impact comes from creating durable infrastructure that reduces existential risk from advanced AI.
💡 A Day in the Life
As a funded founder, your days would blend strategic planning, hiring, fundraising, and hands-on execution—whether that means writing a research agenda, building a prototype, or recruiting technical staff. You would also spend time engaging with the AI safety ecosystem, iterating on your org’s theory of change, and reporting progress to Coefficient Giving. The role is remote and self-directed, so you set the pace and priorities for your new organization.
🚀 Application Tools
🎯 Who Coefficient Giving Is Looking For
- Founder-minded: you have a concrete plan for a new AI safety organization and the drive to recruit a team, ship early milestones, and iterate under uncertainty.
- Deeply familiar with AI safety technical agendas: you can articulate why your initiative addresses a real gap (e.g., evaluation, alignment, governance, or capability monitoring) and how it complements existing efforts.
- Able to operate with 18–36 months of runway: you can design a lean budget, set measurable milestones, and show a path to either self-sustainability or follow-on funding.
- Strong executor with domain credibility: you may have research, engineering, policy, or operational experience that makes you the right person to start this specific organization.
📝 Tips for Applying to Coefficient Giving
Lead with the gap and your organization, not your CV: Coefficient Giving is funding new orgs, so your application should read like a founder’s thesis—problem, solution, why now, why you—rather than a job application.
Reference the example initiatives (training fault injections, AI decision-making tools, alignment moonshots, frontier capabilities observatory) and explain whether you are pursuing one of them or a different gap, and why it is neglected.
Include a realistic 18–36 month runway budget and milestones: show how much you need, what you will achieve, and what success looks like at 6, 12, and 24 months.
Demonstrate ecosystem awareness: name existing orgs and explain how yours complements rather than duplicates them, since Coefficient Giving funds across the AI safety ecosystem.
Use the language of AI safety and grantmaking: talk about existential risk, capability evaluations, alignment, governance, and neglectedness—not generic startup buzzwords.
✉️ What to Emphasize in Your Cover Letter
Your cover letter should function as a concise founder’s pitch. Emphasize: (1) the specific AI safety gap your new organization will fill and why it is urgent; (2) your unique qualifications to start and lead that organization, including relevant technical, research, or operational experience; (3) a high-level plan for the first 18–36 months, including key hires and milestones; and (4) how your initiative fits into Coefficient Giving’s broader portfolio and the AI safety ecosystem.
Generate Cover Letter →🔍 Research Before Applying
To stand out, make sure you've researched:
- → Read Coefficient Giving’s website and any public materials on Project Tailwind to understand their funding criteria, typical runway, and stage (pre-seed, seed, scale).
- → Study the example initiatives—training fault injections, AI decision-making tools, alignment moonshots, frontier capabilities observatory—and identify which existing orgs or projects already work on them.
- → Review 80,000 Hours’ AI safety content and their donor relationship with Coefficient Giving to understand the broader ecosystem and what ‘high-impact’ means in this context.
- → Map the current AI safety landscape: who funds what, which gaps remain, and where a new organization could add unique value.
💬 Prepare for These Interview Topics
Based on this role, you may be asked about:
⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Treating this like a conventional job application: submitting a resume without a founder-level proposal or organizational thesis will signal you misunderstand the opportunity.
- Proposing a generic AI safety idea that duplicates well-funded efforts instead of identifying a specific, neglected gap.
- Failing to include a realistic budget or timeline: asking for funding without an 18–36 month plan shows you are not ready to run an organization.
📅 Application Timeline
This position is open until filled. However, we recommend applying as soon as possible as roles at mission-driven organizations tend to fill quickly.
Typical hiring timeline:
Application Review
1-2 weeks
Initial Screening
Phone call or written assessment
Interviews
1-2 rounds, usually virtual
Offer
Congratulations!
Ready to Apply?
Good luck with your application to Coefficient Giving!